fctUetm 5fu, IZ. OF THE WESTERN BORDER HE EASTERN COALFIELD. the university OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY ^57 VHl b 1. rz- Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. U. of L Library A(/6 3 !9revalence of pebbles in the sandstone series which constitute the base of the Coal Measures, both in Eastern and Western Kentucky Fields, has led to the name “Con- glomerate Measures’ ’ being applied to them. Owen, in his report as State Geologist for the years 1858-9, recognized a conglomerate member, and though he realized it did not lie ac- tually at the base of the Coal Measures, but along the west- ern margin of the Eastern Field and had 4 ‘ sometimes two and even three coal beds below it,” still he identified it with the conglomerate at the base of the Coal Measures in his home country, England, where it was called the “Farewell Rock,” and refused to admit these “ sub-conglomeritic coals” into full Carboniferous fellowship. In another connection he re- fers to these measures below the conglomerate as the “False Coal Measures.” In accordance with his preconceived geo- logical notions — -a relic of the teachings of Werner — there was to be no place provided for these coals in his scheme of num- bering; in fact we are given every reason to believe that the discovery of these productive beds below what by all prin- ciples of Wernerian Geology should be the “Farewell Rock,” was a very unwelcome fact to Owen. His numbering of coals, then, began with the “first coal above the conglomerate,” and from that day to this, “Number One” and the others that follow, up to about twelve, have had this significance. Owen even attempted to correlate these indi- vidual seams specifically with those occurring in the same order in the English Field. Thus “No. 1,” of Kentucky, was recognized as the equivalant of the “Low Main Coal,” of England. Crandall and Sullivan, in their reports listed above, fol- low common usage in applying the name “Conglomerate Measures” and “Conglomerate Formation” to the basal mem- KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 3 ber of the coal-bearing strata of the Eastern Field. On ac- count of the development of the conglomeritic sandstones along the Rockcastle river, Crandall suggests that the name “Rockcastle Group” would be an appropriate designation for the series. No attempt was made by these men to further sub-divide the formation, unless Prof. Crandall’s quasi-endorsement of Lesley’s classification into Conglomerate and Sub-Conglom- erate can be taken as such an attempt. Mr. Campbell, in his London and Richmond Folios, was the first to recognize a dis- tinction in the Conglomerates themselves, and to insist upon the lens-like character of them. In the southern part of the field he described a Lower, or Rockcastle Lentil separated by a shale interval from an Upper, or Corbin Lentil. In the northern part of the field he also describes two lentils, but is not so sure the lower is to be correlated with the Rockcastle. Campbell’s Rockcastle Lentil is Crandall’s Rockcastle Series in the main. The latter, however, appears to have in- cluded the Corbin with the Rockcastle whenever it showed conglomeritic characters. In other cases he mapped it with the “Measures above the Conglomerate.” Campbell indentified the lower lentil as far south as Mid- dle Tennessee and traced it northward to where it “abruptly terminated along a line which crosses Wood creek a mile from its junction with Hazel Patch creek, Hawk creek in the mid- dle of its course, and mouth of Line creek.” This in in the Rockcastle Drainage. Eastward he identified it as pass- ing below drainage at Cumberland Falls, and westward in Pulaski county, noted its disappearance before reaching Buck creek, though the horizon of it is found even west of that creek. The Lower Conglomerate in the northern portion of the area, which Campbell provisionally correlates with the Rock- 4 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. castle, begins abruptly on the Rockcastle at the mouth of Roundstone, and extends thence northward, as traced in ex- posures in the drainage of this creek, to the head and thence over on to the head waters of Silver creek in Madison county. He noted how this conglomerate fills a channel eroded there some 50 to 60 feet into the St. Louis Limestone. Mr. Campbell also noted isolated patches of the same formation in the valley of Horse Lick creek, Jackson county. The Corbin Lentil of Campbell is named by him from Cor- bin, a town in Whitley county, junction of the Cumberland Valley Division with the main Knoxville Line of the Louis- ville & Nashville Railroad. The name is not a fortunate selection, as only the top of the formation is exposed in the vicinity of this town, and it does not there exhibit its typical lithological characters. There are much better exposures along the line of the Cin- cinnati Southern Railroad, between Whitley and Pine Knot, as for in stance at Stearns. Between the latter station and South Fork of the Cumberland River, along the line of the Coal and Lumber Road recently constructed, there is a mag- nificent section of this formation as well as the whole con- glomerate series. It was to this whole series of shales with their included sandstones and conglomerations, considered as lenses, that Mr. Campbell gave the name “Lee Formation/ ’ from Lee county, Va. He assigned a maximum thickness of 1,000 feet to this formation. Mr. Campbell drew the line for the top of the Lee at the top of the Corbin, or at the horizon of the latter, in case it were absent. All the coal measures above this to an undefined upper limit, but with an assigned thick- ness of at least 550 feet, Mr. Campbell termed “Breathitt, ” from Breathitt county, Kentucky. It has been the customary practice of geologists, who have studied the conglomerate measures surrounding in out- KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 5 crop the Appalachian Coal Field, to correlate them with the Pottsville of Pennsylvania. Mr. Campbell definitely states that the “Lee is nearly equivalent to the Pottsville of Penn- sylvania, but that about one-quarter of the latter is lacking from the base and that the top is in the bed of black shale which overlies the Corbin Conglomerate. ’ ’ He bases his conclusions on the evidence supplied by fos- sil plants. More recently, Mr. Ashley, in his report on the Measures of the Cumberland Gap Field, has drawn the top of the Pottsville far up in the Series above the conglomerate measures, basing his conclusions also on plant evidence. In this report the terms Lee and Breathitt will be used as defined by Campbell. The maps, A(l), B(2), and 0(3), which accompany this report, have had indicated upon them the minute meridians and lines of parallel. This divides the whole area in small unit areas, each in extent one minute of latitude from north to south and one minute of longitude from east to west and containing 1.06 square miles. By placing the numbers which would desig- nate these minute meridians of longitude and parallels of lat- itude opposite the ends of the vertical and horizontal col- umns thus formed so that each comes just east of the merid- ian and south of the parallel to which it belongs, this affords a method of locating position on the map, which will be made much use of, especially in referring to coal seams. Thus, Map A 23-59 locates position of McKee Mine open- ing as indicated by the X. LEE FORMATION. Estimates as to the thickness of shales, sandstones and conglomerates which make up this series vary a great deal. Mr. Campbell assigned to his Lee a maximum thickness of 1,000 feet in the southern part of the area in question and 600 6 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. feet in the middle part. Prof. Crandall ’s section for the Con- glomerate Measures in Whitley and Pulaski counties shows about 450 feet, but he generally failed to recognize and include the Corbin in his sections. Mr. Louis Bryant, a mining en- gineer, who has worked much in this region, estimates the total thickness at about 900 feet. The Series has its maximum thickness in the south. The northward thinning, however, is perhaps not so great as has been supposed. The exaggerated notion has been derived from observing the thinning out and disappearance of individual lenses of conglomerate. It is not easy to find continuous short sections of the whole formation that will permit of accurate measurements being made. In the following measured sections, the barom- eter has been the main reliance for the determinations. 1. From the top of the Yellowish Pennington Limestone near the mouth of Roaring Paunch creek to Stearns Hotel within seventy-five feet of the top of the Corbin, in a distance of three and three-quarter miles the interval as measured by the writer is 480 feet (825 feet according to Mr. Bryant.) A well drilled near Pine Knot, starting near top of Corbin, struck the limestone at 807 feet. 2. In the Cumberland river region, near the mouth of Mill creek, there is an interval of 500 feet from top of Penn- ington to top of highest hills in vicinity, which are near or in Corbin. 3. From the level of Rockcastle river, in the vicinity of Rockcastle Springs, to the nearest outcrop of Breathitt on the London road, a distance of about 6 miles, the interval is about 550 feet. The river at the Springs is not far above the top of the Pennington. 4. Further north there is a good section exposed along the line of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from the Rock- castle river at mouth of Hazel Patch to Altamont, in a dis- tance of about 6 miles. Hazel Patch Station, not over 50 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 7 feet above the base of the Lee, has an elevation of 834 A. T., and Altamont, at top of Corbin, has an elevation of 1160, giv- ing a thickness for the Lee of about 350 feet. 5. The Rockcastle river at Livingston is near base of the Lee, and the hill on the east side of Roundstone creek overlooking the town is capped by Corbin. The interval is about 350 feet, so the whole thickness of the formation here could not have been far from 400 feet originally. 6. In the neighborhood of McKee, Jackson county, the barometer gives 400 feet as probable thickness of the Lee. 7. On Contrary creek, Lee county, the thickness of the Lee is about 400 feet. 8. On Sinking creek, a little north of the last section, the thickness is 350 feet. 9. At the mouth of Lineman creek, Lee county, a drill hole gives the thickness as 365 feet. 10. Near Natural Bridge, Powell county, in the Red River Drainage, the thickness is about 300 feet. 11. On the south side of Red river, near the mouth of Chimney Top, the thickness of the conglomerate sandstones exposed is about 300 feet. In this portion of Wolfe county, there is a friable sandstone at the top very similar to that at the base of the Corbin in the southern portion of the Field. 12. On the north side of Red river near the mouth of Copperas creek, the thickness is about 260 feet. 13. On Gladie creek in C 36-52 the thickness is about 240 to 270 feet. (315 feet according to Prof. Crandall.) 14. Near Frencliburg in the section exposed on the old State road in C 38-57 the thickness is about 210 feet. 15. Not far from Scranton in the extreme northeastern corner of the Beatty ville Quadrangle the thickness is about 250 feet. The Rockcastle Series. — Where best developed along the lower Rockcastle river, this formation consists of three prom- 8 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. inent sandstone members or lenses, separated by intervals of sliale. Of these sandstones the lowest is most massive, con- glomeritic and insistent. It is the ledge over which the river drops at Cumberland Falls. This lens has been called the “Big Conglomerate.” The pebbles in the conglomeritic portions are of clear glassy quartz and generally of good size — from that of hailstones to the size of pigeon eggs. The ce- menting material is firm, and the rock therefore very re- sistant to atmospheric and stream erosion. Streams cut deep narrow gorges into it, with falls or “devil’s jumps” in their courses where they flow over the more resistant ledges. By the recession of their sources the creeks and branches tend to form at their virtual heads vast cirques or rock houses. The deep damp hollows formed by the steep rocky slopes are filled with a characteristic plant growth, a very conspicuous ele- ment of which is the laurel and rhododendron (the “ivy” and the “laurel” of the mountaineer); and from out the tangled mass shoot up the tall straight hemlock or spruce pine. Where the conglomerate rises much above drainage and forms the summits of the dividing ridges it carries as its characteristic timber the chestnut and the yellow pine. The Rockcastle has a somewhat greater extent in the southern part of the Field than Mr. Campbell mapped out for it under the term “Rockcastle Lentil.” Instead of pass- ing below drainage on the Cumberland at the Falls, it is only the lowest or “Big Conglomerate,” that a short distance above there sinks from view. The topmost member does not sink below the level of the river till beyond the mouth of Jellico Creek, and extends up Jellico Creek to about A 17-42. It extends up Marsh creek as far as A 21-40, and up the west- ern tributaries of Marsh creek to within a mile or two of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. In the South Fork Region it extends to beyond the State Line. The northern limit of it crosses the Cincinnati Southern at Alpine. KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 9 As lias been stated it reaches a very great development in the Lower Rockcastle River Drainage, np which it extends to the month of Pine creek, with isolated patches cut in to along Hawk and Wood creeks. Little and Big Clifty, Lick, Beech, Upper and Lower Troublesome, Bear and Polebridge creeks, all tributaries to the Rockcastle river from the west, are deeply incised in this formation, but it does not reach as far west as Buck creek. It extends up Sinking creek to a little above the mouth of White Oak, in B. 13-6. Fine exposures are found on Cane creek. Up Laurel river it extends some distance above Bar- ton’s Mill in A 10-58. Bark Camp, Devil and Dog Slaughter creeks are bedded in this formation for the greater part of their courses. All the u clifty country,” marked by Rock castle Conglomerate outcrops, is very thinly populated. The stream valleys are so narrow, and commonly so choked with boulders, that no roads traverse them. In many instances there are no trails even. The very pebbly conglomerate referred to before as show- ing up suddenly at the mouth of Roundstone creek, and ex- tending in a narrow belt up the drainage area of this stream to the head and over on to the headwaters of Silver creek; and which also appears in patches on Horse Lick Creek, and has been somewhat doubtfully correlated by Campbell with his Rockcastle, appears to the writer to be in all probability a different lens of sandstone. Its position is in a channel cut out of the limestone. The material is very pebbly, and the cementing substance so soluble, that under the influence of the weather it breaks down into beds of gravel. This in the vicinity of the Sinks, Rockcastle county, has attracted atten- tion as a gravel suitable to be used in the manufacture of concrete, and quite a good deal has been shipped away from there for that purpose. According to Col. Johnston, of Louis- ville, who has made contributions both to the history and 10 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. geology of tlie region through which this branch of the Louis- ville & Nashville Railroad passes, the name “Roundstone” applied to the stream in the drainage of which this conglom- erate mainly lies, is derived from the abundance of the loose quartz conglomerate pebbles in the bed of the stream in its lower course. Campbell, in his Report on the London Quad- rangle, derived the name from the presence of quartz con- cretions, weathered from the Waverly Formation which is exposed in the upper courses of this stream. We suggest for this channel filling conglomerate (and hence doubtfully of marine origin), the name “Livingston Conglomerate. ” The Corbin Conglomerate. — This, where typically devel- oped, is a coarse friable sandstone or fine grained conglomer- ate. Campbell refers to it as a “pink conglomerate. ” The pebbles in it in the southern part of the Field are always small — not larger than peas. It forms the top of the highest ridges throughout most of the areas south of the Kentucky river. North of the divide between the Kentucky and Red rivers the Corbin as a member distinct from the Rockcastle, has never been differentiated. In the region where developed, it sinks to drainage along the eastern margin of the district covered by this report. Though not so resistant as the Rock- castle, yet it is more so than the shales with which it is inter- bedded and gives rise to the same kind of topography as the lower conglomerate, and carries the same kind of vegetation. Forming as it does the top of the Conglomerate Ser- ies it has constituted in the past a local base level at which the denudation was arrested for a time. It is this very much dis- sected old structural plain that is now known throughout this whole region as the “Flatwoods.” North of the Cumberland, east of the Rockcastle and south of the Kentucky all the inter- stream areas within the Lee outcrop, which reach an elevation of between 1,200 and 1,300 feet above tide, are capped with KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 11 this conglomerate. It also extends across the Rockcastle into Rockcastle county along the high ridges which reach up to these contours. Southward in Pulaski county it is not found west of the Rockcastle and north of the Cumberland, probably because of the rising of the formations in this direction and the absence of contours high enough to catch it. South of the Cumberland river it is first met with along the high ridge road between Cumberland Falls Station and Cumberland Falls, where it reaches the 1,400 foot contour westerly. Along the line of the Cincinnati Southern south- ward from Marshall Siding to Pine Knot, this formation is at track level and also forms the tops of the ridges in the imme- diate vicinity. In passing eastward up the Cumberland river, the formation, which has in this direction gradually changed to a thin bedded shaly sandstone, is still above drainage at Williamsburg, and about 40 feet thick. The base is here about 40 feet above the river and rests on a very black shale. In the western part of the area the formation reaches a max- imum thickness of from 100 to 150 feet. A splendid section is shown of the Corbin in cuts of the Louisville & Nashville Rail- road in coming up on to the ridge at Altamont from the waters of Laurel Branch of Hazel Patch creek. Eastward and north- eastward from here, on the waters of Little and Big Raccoon creeks, Upper Hazel Patch creek, White Oak creek, tribu- taries of the Rockcastle from the south, and Moore and Pond creeks, tributaries from the north, there is quite a large area in which the Corbin is very thin or wanting entirely. When wanting it is quite difficult to know where to draw the line between the Lee and Breathitt, unless the Lily Coal (No. 1 of the older Reports) can be identified. This is always due a short distance, usually within 20 feet, above the top of the Corbin, or the horizon of the Corbin. The ridge roads over a large portion of the middle and southern parts of the district covered by this report are bedded upon Corbin, and 12 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. on account of their sandy character and level grades are in fair condition for the entire year. These ridge roads form the best highways of intercommunication in the region. The Great Wilderness Road, over which the pioneers mostly came from Virginia into the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky, after it ascends from the Rockcastle River to follow the ridge which marks the boundary between Jackson and Rockcastle coun- ties, and through which stretch it is known as “The Big Hill ” is bedded for the most part on Corbin. The soil of these ridges, as might be expected from its sandy character is naturally quite poor. Still the exper- ience of the German-Swiss Colonists, who under such fair promises were induced to settle on these Corbin Ridge lands west of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in its stretch from Altamont to Pittsburg, lias shown that by careful tillage it can be made to produce rather bountifully. Whether it is the result of such demonstration or not, certain it is a fact that the attention of the population through this mountain district seems of late years to have been turned to these ridge lands as suitable for cultivation, and as furnish- ing desirable sites for homes. Perhaps the introduction of the practice of drilling deep wells for water has had much to do with the making of these dry ridges habitable. These wells from which the water is drawn in long cylindrical gal- vanized buckets by the aid of an iron pulley mechanism, afford copious supplies of purest sand-filtered soft water. The con- ditions on these ridges are ideal for fruit culture and the Swiss colonists have demonstrated that the finest varieties can here be raised in great abundance. The original timber on these ridges was mainly chestnut and pine. Where more remote from market still much of it remains. This is particularly true of the pine in the region about McKee, in Jackson county. KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 13 COALS OF THE LEE FORMATION. There is an opinion widely current among geologists and coal men that coal seams in the Conglomerate Measures are few and unimportant. Owen voiced this notion in the fifties, when he characterized these as the “ False Coal Measures.” Crandall, however, has called attention to the fact that the ratio of coal to strata is greater in these conglomerate meas- ures than in those above, and Ashley from his investigations in the Cumberland Gap Region, has come to the same con- clusion. The chief factor that lias militated against the greater development of these coals is their inaccessibility on account of the ruggedness of the country. As regards general per- sistence, some of the seams will compare favorably with those higher up in the Series. There are indications that the peaty beds, from which coal was formed, were cut out in places by the same shifting currents or stream courses as deposited the sands and gravels. These “ cut-outs,” however, are apt to be local, and do not in- terfere so mutoh with the general continuity of the beds. On account of the great unconformity which exists at the base of the Coal Measures, as well as by reason of the lenticular char' acter of the sandstone members, it is very difficult to correlate seams exposed for the most part only at widely spaced in- tervals. The base of the Lee will sometimes be found to rest upon the eroded surface of the Pennington shale and impure lime- stone (Upper Chester), and sometimes upon that of the New- man Limestone. The upper part of the latter turns out upon in- vestigation to be Ste. Genevieve, and the lower part St. Louis. In the southern portion of the field — that lying in the Rock 14 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. castle, Cumberland and South Fork Drainage — Die Pennington is commonly the top member of the Mississippian upon which the Lee rests. At the top of the Pennington here, when it has not been eroded, is a rather massive impure yellow limestone, having a maximum thickness of about eight feet, with green: ish shales and thin yellowish limestones below. Campbell assigns to the Pennington in this region a max- imum thickness of 90 feet. The writer has never been aH» to measure any section showing over 20 feet. Fossils prove the Pennington to be of Chester age. The farthest north Pennington has been observed by the writer is at Heidelberg, on the Kentucky river just opposite the mouth of Sturgeon creek. But exposures of this formation are quite rare long be- fore the Kentucky river is reached in going northward. It all but disappears north of Jackson county. Even in the dis- trict where it may be expected, it is frequently wanting on account of removal by erosion, before the deposition of the Coal Measures, or if present, on account of its shaly charac- ter so covered as not to be seen at all. For this reason there is always an element of uncertainty in the correlation of coal seams obtained by measuring up- wards from the top of “the limestone.” Usually it is the Newman Limestone whose top is most likely to be recog- nized, and the real base of the Coal Measures may be some 20 feet above this. If there are any sections as thick as Campbell estimates, the base might be as much as 90 feet above “The (Newman) Limestone.” As an illustration of how unreliable “height above the limestone,” meaning the pure or Newman Limestone, may be for purposes of correlation, it is only necessary to consult sections recorded in this Report, that have been obtained in the vicinity of Livingston. There is no doubt that the coal here identified as No. 2, is the same seen throughout this KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 15 mining district, but note how the interval between it and the top of the pure limestone — the Newman — varies. The Lee Coals of the Cumberland River and South Fork Regions. — Leslie, in his Report previously referred to, iden- tified five coals in this region. Two of these were considered workable. All well classed erroneously as “ Sub-Conglom- erate. ” He also refers to a coal in the vicinity of the Rock- castle river, which we considered to be above the Conglom- erate and lienee belonging to the “true coal measures.” This is doubtless but one of the five coals previously enumerated, only in this case an additional lens of sandstone has inter- vened. Prof. Crandall enumerates six coals in the Cumberland and South Fork Region as belonging to the “Rockcastle Ser- ies.” Three of these he considered workable. These would be, counting from the base of the Lee upward, his Nos. 2, 4 and 6.* In this report they will be given the Numbers 1, 2 and 3, and openings on these coals will be designated in the Lee as they are on the map, by crosses accompanied by the appropriate number. Corresponding names for these seams are the Hudson, Beaver Creek and Barren Fork, respectively. Mr. L. N. Taylor in his examination of the coals of Pulaski county during the summer of 1906, placed two more coals in the Lee above the Barren Fork, but in so doing he reckoned the Cumberland Falls Station, Cogar, and Williams Siding Coal as some 50 feet above the Barren Fork. Crandall identi- fies all these coals as the same and also includes the Beaver Creek in the category. Crandall is wrong in the last instance, but undoubtedly right in his first correlations above. In a section along the line of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad made in 1901, the writer enumerated eleven coals * It should be understood, however, that Prof. Crandall, knowing the vagaries of “Inter- Conglomerate” coal beds, did not really give numbers to such beds. See Appendix. — C. J. N. 16 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. (counting all that were three inches and upwards,) between Alpine and Barren Fork Station. The main coal exposed from Cumberland Falls Station to Barren Fork is the No. 10 of this Series. No. 11 is the thin coal seen a short distance above 10 at the tunnel cut just south of Cumberland Falls Station. The Coals in the Cumberland River Region of Pulaski County. Lee No. 1 Seam (The Hudson Coal). — This is the most persistent coal or group of coals (for it is frequently split up) in the conglomerate measures. There are few places along the western border of the Eastern Coal Field in Ken- tucky where some trace of this coal may not be found a short distance above the top of the highest limestone. Outside of the Cumberland river and South Fork Regions, however, it is generally thin, seldom showing over 24 inches of coal free from any partings. And what in one opening is a thin parting of a few inches scarcely interfering with the commercial min- ing of the coal may in a short distance thicken up to several feet, so that neither of the two thin seams here can be eco- nomically mined at all. For instance, at the old McKee opening on the Cumber- land, a short distance below the mouth of the Rockcastle, there is shown 63 inches of coal with a 25-inch shale parting- 37 inches from the base, while at Rockcastle Springs, about four miles up the Rockcastle from the mouth, this parting has increased to about 30 feet, and the aggregate thickness of the coal in the two benches has decreased to 39 inches. In other places the coal may show a division into three seams, and perhaps even more. The height of this coal above the base of the Coal Measures may vary from as great as 100 feet in the southern portion of the district covered by this KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 17 report, to almost zero in the northern part. The quality of the coal is generally excellent. Probably the earliest opening upon this seam where min- ing was carried on for commercial purposes in the days of attempted river transportation for these “Cumberland River Coals/ ’ was on the south bank of the Cumberland river in A 19-56. This was known as the “Hudson Mine.” The level of the coal is here 30 feet above the river and shows at the entrance 34 inches of coal under shale. It is reported to be a “double seam” further back. It was also opened across the river at about the same elevation. It passes below drain- age about the mouth of Laurel river in A 18-57. Further down the river, beginning about one mile below the mouth of the Rockcastle, and extending to the mouth of Addison branch, this seam had formerly many openings made upon it. The hazards of river navigation, chief among which were those of Smith Shoals, caused exploitation of these mines to become unprofitable and it was abandoned. Some of the more celebrated of these mines were the Edwards in about A 22-58, thickness of coal 34 inches, the McKee already re- ferred to in A 23-59, thickness 88 inches with a 25-inch part- ing 26 inches from the base; and the Boyer near the mouth of Addison branch in A 26-58. Aneroid measurements give 100 feet as the height of the McKee opening above the top of the Yellow Pennington Lime- stone, and 165 feet as the height above the Cumberland river. Lesley, in his Report gives the height of the McKee opening above “the limestone” as from 80 to 93 feet. Prof. Crandall gives the analyses of this coal from the Edwards and McKee Mines as follows: Moisture Edwards. 3.40 McKee. 2.80 Volatile combustibles 34.40 33.80 Fixed carbon 57.20 53.60 Ash 5.00 9.80 Sulphur .687 2.58 18 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. An opening was also made on this coal on the south side of the Cumberland River in about A 27-58. Lee No. 2, or the Beaver Creek Seam. — Like the No. 1, this was also formerly much worked along this part of the Cumberland river in Pulaski county, where it was reck- oned as the main seam. More recently the seam was worked at Beaver creek, but at present the mines here have been abandoned. At entry Number One, Beaver Creek Mines, the thickness of the coal is 48 inches; at entry Number Two, 46 inches. An average of four analyses made of samples collect- ed from different entries and different parts of the seam gives the following: Specific Gravity. 1.358 Moisture .... 2.8 Volatile combustibles 34.09 Fixed carbon 52.38 Ash 11.34 Sulphur 2.85 This seam has been opened on nearly every branch flow- ing into the Cumberland between the “Big Bend” and the mouth o(f Rockcastle river. It has also been opened on the banks of the Cumberland itself in this stretch and also far- ther up. It goes under drainage on the river at the mouth of Dog Slaughter creek in A 19-52. This is in Whitley county. Prof. Crandall made this No. 2 coal his No. 4, counting thick and thin alike, and estimated it as coming 70 to 90 feet above No. 1. Lesley also made it No. 4 in the series, and placed it 65 feet above the “McKee Seam” or No. 1. Among the more celebrated mines located on this seam and worked in the palmy days of Cumberland River Coal Mining and Transportation, may be mentioned the Rayburn “Slipup,” situated on the “Big Bend” of the river in A 27-59, thick- ness 40 inches. The Addison branch in A 26-59, thickness 54 inches, the Hiding in A 27-57, thickness 42 inches; the KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 19 Dolin in about A 25-59 near head of Little Lick Branch; the Doyle, the exact location of which is unknown to the writer; the Brown-Owens located by Talbutt, who collected samples of the coal, as “two miles south of the Cumberland River and nine miles from Rockcastle Springs,” and finally the Curd, 38 inches thick in A 18-56. The latter mine is in Whitley County. Other openings have been made on this coal in A 25-57, near the head of Big Lick Branch, and on Big Branch in 26-59. South of the Cumberland the south and east dip rapidly carries this coal below drainage and it is not known in the district east of the Cincinnati Southern and south of the Beaver Creek Mines. The analyses of the No. 2 coal from most of the foregoing openings are as follows: Beaver Creek. Rayburn Slipup Addison Branch. Brown- Owens. Doolin. Moisture 2.8 2.00 2.40 2.40 2.00 Volatile combustibles . . . 34.09 34.00 35.60 36.79 35.30 Fixed carbon 52 38 55 20 54.40 50.24 52.94 Ash 11.34 8.00 7.60 10.60 9.76 Sulphur Specific gravity 2 877 1 358 1 20 1.70 2.494 1.357 3.565 1.367 In going south on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, the No. 1 coal shows up at Alpine, the point where the road enters the great Eastern Coal Field. It is here split into two seams and not workable. Crandall estimates the height of the Alpine Coal above the Chester Limestone as from 50 to 60 feet, but the real coal worked at Alpine is Number 2, and is higher up than that. Along the South Fork of the Cumberland, this No. 1 coal has been opened at a number of places. The highest up recorded by Crandall is at Big Creek in A 32-48, and extend- ing from there to the Devil ’s Jumps in A 32-41. At the latter 20 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. place it is the lower division, 30 inches thick with analyses as follows: Moisture 1.50 Volatile combustibles 39.40 Fixed carbon ... 63.88 Ash 5.40 Sulphur 1.089 No. 1 is the lower coal now so extensively worked by the Stearns Lumber and Mining Co., with openings in A 32-41 and A 32-42. In the latter minute quadrangle they are situated near the mouth of the Worley and Stover branches, respectively, and are here 30 feet above the top of the Penn- ington Yellow Limestone — the same that a little farther down the South Fork is used in the manufacture of mineral wool. The seam in this region ranges from 49 to 56 inches. Crandall gives the accompanying section for the ‘ 4 Bry van Coal” at the mouth of Worley Branch. My own measure- ments did not indicate a thickness of over 49 inches for this coal as at present mined. An average of three analyses made from samples collected by Capt. Crozer, Mr. Tliruston and Prof. Crandall and also an analysis of the coke, resulted as follows: Av. of Three Analyses Coke Moisture 3.00 2.10 Volatile combustibles 35.74 Fixed carbon 56.41 90.46 Ash 5.13 7.44 Sulphur 797 .665 Prof. Crandall gives other measurements for this coal in the South Fork Legion as follows: Near mouth of Rock creek (Wayne county), in A 23-43, 56 inches. “In the point of the ridge between Nigger and Big Creek, 54 inches in two benches, 31 and 35 inches, separated by 9 inches of shale. The lower 23 inches is a splint coal. KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 21 No. 2 in the South Fork drainage is found at its as- signed horizon. It is the upper coal worked by the Stearns Mining and Lumber Company on Paunch Creek at Barthell, in A 31-11. Here it is 52 inches thick and closer to the top of the Pennington than usual, being here by aneroid measure- ment 80 feet above the top of the Pennington Impure Lime- stone. The same seam shows up near the heads of Worley and Stover branches in A 32-42. Farther up the South Fork, at the DeviPs Jumps, this coal analyses as follows: Moisture 90 Volatile combustibles 89.86 Fixed carbon 47.30 Ash . . . 11.90 Sulphur 3.741 Bryant reports this seam exposed from point to point along the South Fork all the way up to and beyond the state line, and particularly in A 31-40 and 33-37. Northward from the Stearns openings on this seam, it is reported by Crandall as probably the Wilson on Little Indian Creek, somewhat beyond the limits of the map ac- acompanying this report, and according to Bryant it is the coal at present worked at Alpine. An analysis of a coal from Alpine, whether of No. 1 or No. 2 does not appear, is as follows: Moisture Volatile combustibles, Fixed carbon Ash Sulphur 1.40 36.20 66.80 6.80 1.043 22 KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Lee No. 3 (the Barren Fork Seam) in Pulaski and Whitley Counties South of the Cumberland River. This seam occurs above the ‘‘Big Conglomerate Ledge/ 7 and where typically developed, is about two hundred feet above the Beaver Creek Seam. In going south along the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, it is first met with at the first tunnel cut south of Cumberland Falls Station. It is here at track level and 36 inches thick (39 according to Crandall, with 18 inches above separated by 8 inches of clay shale) There is a thin streak (about 1 inches) 40 feet higher up, which may represent what Mr. Bryant con- siders a “split” from the Xo. 3, and which Mr. Taylor refers to as the upper coal opened, hut never worked, at Flat Rock Station, further south. This Barren Fork coal really first shows near the line of the Railroad at Greenwood, where it is above track level. The seam dips rapidly to the southeast; so that in con- sequence of this and the rising of the grade of the railroad, when Barren Fork is reached, the mine openings are, accord- ing to Prof. Crandall, 150-180 feet below track level. The el- evation of Cumberland Falls Station is 1,240 A. T. and Barren Fork Station about 1,260. This gives a dip o/ /* A Jiar 1 ~noo Sk -t- ’ k u3 N Hass. S.s. Rockcds t la Hoj. 1 'J'-F.y rTTLm-TZL Sk. :-X~bF ; is ;j- • S.s Rockcastle Cong •v.-.iU 1 [Tijl Ml L JA * Covered - /OOP >zl; ;':4\ .1 — _ — _r- Coal Bloom. No 3! Sh t 0»( 56 ic £> /Yo.2? I iW Vi1 11 in1 1 0;.O. f.-. Coal S6‘ ..o: .0: . S S.Bockcosite Conjl \ / i Chester -u\z--T“«r Sh 'J~f~CLcb (.Gwl 6 € - 3oo loi+r Stearns Mines -£j— on. S.forh. :V*:| S.S C overeat c‘“' i Covered _ a oo Coal Bloom. ) I Wo I C oai BUonr\ abr/S) Rockcoitle River at forct above Pockc. ott< : b. ten 5 to ks. Esti 0. Top of Ria Corbin Cc Sk ■ Mass. S.S Ffockcast Sh. 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